The Reason
by Litanya
Summary: What exactly happens whilst you are in a coma? Two people are about to find out that it is their worst nightmare... Taiora Now Complete!
1. Default Chapter

Litanya: At the moment I seem to be obsessed with comas. Anyway, this fic has been in my head a while… as in years. So without further ado, I do not own digimon because if I did it would be a Taiora, Takari, Mimoe and Kenyako. I also do not own the song 'The Reason'. Hoobastank owns it, not me.

**_The Reason_**

**_Prologue_**

"So Tai, where are we going?" Sora Takenouchi asked her wild-haired boyfriend as he led her to his car.

"That's a secret," he grinned in reply. The two of them had been best friends since they were four years old. Now, at the age of nineteen, they had been dating for three years. They had been through everything together, from losing teeth to going to other worlds to graduating from high school. And neither of them would have it any other way.

"But I really want to know!" she begged, her crimson eyes pleading with him. He kept up a firm resolve to resist her begging. He wanted the day to be special and full of surprises. If he told her where they were going, it would not have that effect.

"Sorry Sora, you are going to have to wait and see," he opened the car door for her and she glared mockingly at him before poking her tongue out.

"I don't like you," she told him childishly.

"Yes you do, otherwise you wouldn't be here. Now don't worry, we'll be there in about an hour or so," he climbed into the driver's seat and, after putting on his seat belt, he began the drive to their destination.

"Are you going to tell me yet?"

"No, it's a surprise."

"I can act surprised for you if you want," she offered, but he still refused to tell her, "Fine then, I suppose that I will have to wait and see." For the rest of the journey they just chatted happily, enjoying the company of the other. They loved being together and over the past few years in particular, they had spent all of their time with each other, when it was possible.

"How long is it until we get there?" Sora knew that they were near the coast, but she wasn't sure exactly where they were going. All she knew was that Tai had remembered when she had said that she loved the beach.

"Not too long now, only a few minutes in fact. It's just up ahead," Tai replied, stealing a glance at her out of the corner of his eye. He loved her so much, and that was why he had brought her here. They finished the rest of the journey in a comfortable silence.

"Are we there now?" Sora asked as she felt the car stop. She turned to find a grinning Tai.

"Not quite. We just have to walk the rest of the way," they hopped out of the car and took the picnic basket out of the back seat. They had planned a picnic, but Tai had chosen the location. What Sora didn't know was that Tai had something special planned, and it wasn't just the picnic.

"Okay, I guess that I'm up for a walk," Sora agreed, stretching after the hour long car trip. She had the picnic rug in her arms whilst Tai carried the basket. After all, they both knew that Tai ate more food than her, so it was only fair that he carry it.

"I knew you would be," he led her along a trail that almost seemed to have disappeared in the long grass. It was obvious that no one had traveled along this path in a long time.

"Whoa, it's so beautiful here," the path had opened up onto a small section of a beach. The sand was a perfect white and the water was an aqua blue colour that turned green whenever the Sun shone down on the top of a wave.

"Yeah, I know. It reminded me of you and so I knew that I had to bring you here," this romantic side of Tai hardly ever came out, and when it did, it was only when he was alone with Sora. The girl blushed and then began to set the picnic blanket down under the shade of some rocks. Tai set the basket down next to it.

"Feel like a swim?" he asked, knowing that they would both want the exercise after the long trip. Sora agreed, eyeing the waves with a twinkle in her eyes.

"I know, what about a race?" she knew that Tai would never back down a challenge.

"You're on. Where to?"

"Do you see that rock sticking out over there," she pointed and he nodded, "We'll race to there and back, okay?"

"Sure," he agreed and they both stripped off until they were in their swim gear.

"Ready? Go!" Sora called out, running before she said go.

"Hey, that's not fair cheater!" but he chased after her anyway. They hit the water at roughly the same time and matched each other stroke for stroke until they reached the rock. Then Tai began to win. He had the advantage as he had been on the side of the rock that was closer. By the time they had finished their race, in which they had drawn, they were feeling much better. Neither of them could stand long car trips and now that they had been swimming, they felt much better.

"It's not fair, I would have won if you hadn't grabbed me to slow me down," Tai whined jokingly, grabbing Sora around the waist and pulling her closer.

"And I would have won if you hadn't distracted me by claiming that you were drowning," she smiled and he couldn't resist the urge to kiss her. He then picked her up and threw her into the deeper water, ignoring her angry cries.

"There, now we're even!" he called down to her as she spluttered her way to the surface.

"Oh no we're not! You're going down Kamiya!" he laughed and swam away, knowing that she would catch up to him.

"I didn't know we were only on a last name basis Takenouchi," she narrowed her eyes and swam after him, her mock anger filling her with more energy. That started the splashing contest of the year. When they were finally done, it was just past one o'clock and both of their stomachs were protesting loudly that it was past lunch time.

"I think we need to eat now, or I'll pass out from hunger," Tai joked and he opened the basket. He picked up a sandwich and offered it to Sora.

"Mmm… yummy… thanks Tai," she took a bite out of her sandwich and sat down next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder. She wished that the day could last forever, but she knew that it couldn't. She had to be back home by four as she had to go to work, "It's too bad that we'll have to leave soon." Tai mumbled something in reply, but Sora didn't understand as his mouth had been full of food. He swallowed before repeating what he had said.

"I know what you mean. I could spend forever in your company Sora. You're just too perfect for me to want to leave you," she blushed at his compliment.

"And you're too perfect for me to ever leave you," this time it was his turn to blush. They finished their food in a comfortable silence, mainly because their stomachs were grumbling too loudly for them to ignore.

"We have time for one last swim before we leave," Sora suggested after they had finished packing up their picnic.

"Okay… in a second. But before we go for a swim, can I ask you something?" he was very nervous, although he tried not to show it. After all, it was his first time doing this.

"Yeah, of course you can Tai," Sora was nervous now too, as she could sense that he was nervous. It was all very confusing. He fingered the small box he held in his right hand before he took a deep breath and got down on one knee. After all, Sora had always told him that she had wanted to be proposed to in a romantic way.

"Sora, we've known each other for forever and I'm sure that I fell in love with you the day I met you. It's kind of hard to remember back to when I was four, but I remember the day I met you clearly. You helped me to beat those boys playing soccer without a thought and since then we've been firm friends and more. I can't really imagine my life without you and I hope that you are with me for the rest of my life. Will you marry me Sora?" she gasped, happy tears in her eyes. She had never imagined that he would ask her that today, but she knew her answer.

"Of course I will! I couldn't ever imagine my life without you either," she accepted the ring and then he stood up and kissed her passionately.

"I'm the luckiest and happiest guy in the world!" he exclaimed once they had stopped kissing to breathe.

"And I'm the luckiest and happiest girl in the world!" she told him right back, so happy that she could hardly remember where she was. She was so overwhelmed by the whole experience. It took them a few minutes to calm down and then before they knew it they had to leave. They came back using the same trail. Tai had his arm around her and she was leaning her head on his shoulder. She was looking down at her ring, still unable to believe what had happened. The ring had a thin, delicate band with a small clear diamond on top. It wasn't big or extravagant, but it was exactly as she had pictured her dream ring.

"Thank you so much for today Tai. It's been the best day in my whole life," she had not stopped smiling since he had proposed to her and neither had he. They were both so happy that they did not think that they would ever stop smiling.

"Same here. I have to thank you for everything too," they packed everything into the back of the car and started the trip home again. Sora cursed her boss for giving her a shift. She just wanted to spend the rest of the day with her fiancé.

"We're so lucky that we have each other, and we have the other destined for our friends. We must be the luckiest people in the world," Sora commented as they pulled up at a set of traffic lights. Tai turned to her.

"I know. And they're all going to be so happy once we tell them the news," Tai knew that the other digidestined had been taking bets on how long it would take before he proposed to Sora. From the last update he had heard, it sounded like Kari had won. Then again, she did know her brother well, and she had known Sora basically all her life. She had the best chance of guessing the correct time.

"Hmm… it looks like Kari won the bet too. Matt was the next closest, then T.K, Mimi, Izzy and Joe was last. Then again, Izzy and Joe had no clue and didn't really want to bet on it," Sora obviously had heard about the bet then. Tai laughed, knowing that Joe would have been last. It wasn't the blue-haired guy's fault that he hadn't had any idea. He was busy with his medical studies and keeping Mimi busy in his free time. Joe and Mimi had been going out for a year and a half now and they still seemed to be going strong.

"I thought that Joe would get last. Then again, Izzy wasn't all that far off being last too. In fact, Kari only guessed… she had no idea either. She just knew me too well because she's my sister, that's all," the lights turned green and Tai turned most of his concentration back to driving. He wanted to get his fiancée back home safely.

"Yeah, I thought so," she leant forward and put the radio on, knowing that their favourite radio show was beginning. They listened to the show, randomly commenting on the things that the hosts were saying and singing along to the tunes they knew.

_I've found a reason for me_

_To change who I used to be   
A reason to start over new_

_And the reason is you_

It was their favourite song and they sung it loudly, knowing that no one outside the car could hear them.

_I'm sorry that I hurt you_

_It's something I must live with everyday_

_And all the pain I put you through_

_I wish I could take it all away_

_And be the one who catches all your tears…_

They were about to continue with the next line when it happened. They were driving through a set of traffic lights. On their left was a cliff which dropped down to a series of sand dunes. It was a drop of about five meters. The traffic lights were on green and so Tai drove through. A car coming at them from their right at a perpendicular angle drove straight through the lights, even though they must have been on red for the driver. Tai was left with nowhere to go. Sora screamed as the small red car crashed into Tai's side of the car. The impact sent Tai's small blue car over the edge of the cliff. Sora's scream echoed in the air as the car tumbled down, landing with a loud bang on top of a sand dune.

_I've found a reason for me…_ the radio blurted out before it, too, became silent…

**_To be continued…_**

End of prologue

Litanya: That's the end of the prologue. Don't worry, it will probably end up being a happy ending, at least with the plot I have in mind. I'm getting a bit bored with writing fics where I kill off Tai or another character. I love to read them, but I'm getting sick of writing them. Anyway, feel free to drop a review and I'll see you around later!


	2. Sora's Story

Litanya: Hello again. I do not own Digimon or the song 'The Reason' by Hoobastank. And please remember… this is going to be a HAPPY ending… not a sad one. Please remember that. And please remember that this is also a TAIORA. Matt is only being a very good friend.

**_The Reason:_**

****

**_Sora's Story_**

When she woke she found that she was staring at a white wall. She was confused. The last thing she remembered was driving in the car with Tai, singing along to the radio and then… TAI! She tried to sit up, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"Sora, its okay, just stay there," it was her mother. She hadn't noticed her before.

"Mum? W-what happened?" she didn't want to ask the question that was on her mind. She had seen the red car smash in to their car, where Tai was sitting. She hadn't heard a sound out of him during the fall and she hadn't dared to look at him. All she knew was that the best day of her life had turned into one of the worst.

"There was an accident honey, but everything's all right," Sora knew by her mother's tone that something was wrong.          Rika Takenouchi wrapped her hand around her daughter's and squeezed it comfortingly.

"I-Is Tai alright?" she had found the courage to ask the question. Courage. That was Tai's crest.

"Y-You should get some rest Sora," Rika avoided the question. That would make Sora too upset.

"Mum, I need to know. I-I just want to know. Please Mum…" she trailed off and looked up at her mother, who had closed her eyes. Rika hated what she had to tell her daughter next. Tai had always been there for Sora and she knew that this was going to hurt her.

"Tai- he's dead honey," she finally said, not being able to hold out against her daughter's pleas. She felt Sora's hand tighten and the girl took a deep breath, closing her eyes. It was only then that Rika realised that her daughter was wearing a ring on her left hand. That made the situation worse. Sora had not just lost her boyfriend, but her fiancé. Sora still had her eyes closed and her shoulders were shaking slightly. That told Rika that she was about to cry.

"What about the driver of the other car?"

"He's fine. He's in the hospital claiming that you were the ones that went through the red light. He claims that the lights were on green, so he went through. He was drunk," Rika felt her own voice breaking up. To get away from what had happened she examined the room. Through the window she could see the sun setting on the horizon. It was making a lovely colour in the sky; a mixture of orange and red. The door to the room opened, catching Rika off guard. Kari's tear-stricken face peered around the door, checking the situation in the room. She wanted to make sure that Sora was all right.

"I'm sorry to bother you Mrs. Takenouchi, Sora," she slipped into the room, absently brushing a tear away from her cheek.

"It's okay Kari," Rika answered for both herself and her daughter, who still hadn't moved since she had been told of Tai's death, except for when she had asked her last question. Kari glanced at Sora out of the corner of her eye and then looked questioningly at Rika.

"She's okay. She's just upset," Rika answered the girl's unanswered question without thinking. Kari had been over to her house almost as much as Tai had when she was younger. She hadn't been over as often of late, as she had been busy with school and her boyfriend T.K.

"I thought so. I-I just wanted to pop in to give Sora this. Tai left it behind this morning, muttering something about remembering what it said. I-I haven't read it, so I don't know what it is but…" she trailed off, unable to go any further. Instead she thrust the letter into Rika's hands and turned and left the room, too upset to stay.

"Sora, do you want to read this?" she opened her eyes and Rika could see tears in them, threatening to fall.

"I already know what it says," Sora whispered, her thoughts going back to when Tai had proposed to her, "It talks about when we met and…" she broke down. She couldn't keep the tears inside of her anymore.

"Shh Sora, it's going to be alright," she knew that the words were worthless, but she said them anyway, knowing that Sora needed to calm down. She wrapped her in a warm hug, silently cursing the driver that had stolen the life of the caring fun-loving boy who would have become her son-in-law.

"No it isn't. He's always been there for me Mum. What am I going to do without him?" she didn't think that she was ever going to stop crying. Memories of the day before the accident plagued her mind, along with the memories of everything she could remember. Basically all had Tai in them. He had been the one person who understood her in a way that no one else had been able to.

"You'll be okay honey. Tai wouldn't want you to cry and you know that. H-He would want you to be happy and… and find something in life to enjoy. You know that. You'll be okay," she rocked her daughter gently for a long time, knowing that whatever she said the wound in Sora's heart would never heal.

"…Tai was the best brother a girl could ask for, once you managed to get to know him. Of course he is-was lazy and he loved to tease me a lot but…" Kari trailed off as her emotions got the best of her. She took a deep breath and finished off her speech, "I could never have asked for a better brother." It was Tai's funeral. Kari's speech had only been short because she had known that her emotions would soon get a hold of her. Sora played with the piece of paper that contained her speech. It was already about to fall apart, but she did not really care. She knew what she had to say. Kari stumbled a little as she made her way back to her seat and it was Sora's turn. She took a deep breath and stood, making her way to the front.

All of the digidestined were there, sitting in the pews in the front of the church. Kari was next to T.K, and both of them were crying openly. They were not very good at hiding their feelings. Next to T.K was Matt. The blond musician had been very quiet when he had heard about Tai's death. Although he had been quiet though, he had also been there for Sora. He had known how much Tai had meant to her. Everyone had, but Matt had been both Sora and Tai's best friend other than each other. Sora was grateful for everything he had done for her. Joe was behind Matt, his head sticking out easily above Matt's. Joe had also been upset about Tai's death as all of the digidestined had been close, but he was one of the least affected out of all of them. To keep his mind off the death he had begun to study even harder. At the age of twenty one Joe was almost halfway through his university course to be a doctor. He had been upset that the doctors had been able to do nothing to keep Tai alive and that made him even more determined to graduate. Next to Joe, on his left, was Mimi. She was crying as quietly as she could, her teary eyes matching her pink hair. Mimi was extremely upset about everything that happened. She was an empathic person and when she cried about Tai's death, she cried because she felt everyone's sadness. That was what made her so sincere. Next in the line came Izzy. He was sitting on the edge of the row, and Sora could see his hands. They were resting in his lap as though they were on a keyboard. The fact that Izzy's laptop was missing showed the magnitude of the situation. He _never_ went _anywhere_ without his laptop unless it was important. By leaving his laptop at home, Izzy was giving Tai a huge sign of respect. It was too bad that the receiver was not there to see his gift.

Sora's gaze caught the eye of Mr. and Mrs. Kamiya. They were trying to be strong, but their masks were cracking. Mari gave her a small, sad smile of encouragement before it slipped completely off her face. They had never thought that they would have to bury their son. They had always assumed that they would die first. It now seemed that they had been wrong. Sora took another deep breath and unfolded the piece of paper. She knew what she was going to say, but it would help to have it there in case she broke down. She glanced quickly around the room again before she began to speak.

"As many of you know, my name is Sora Takenouchi and Tai was my fiancé when he died. I first met Tai when I was four. Some boys were ganging up against him in a soccer game and I happened to join his team to help him beat them. We have been- were best friends ever since that day. He was the best friend I could ever have asked for. He seemed to know instinctively when I was upset or needed someone to talk to and he knew exactly how to cheer me up. He was a soccer freak, which many of us have fond memories of. We all used to tease him about it, but we always knew that he could be a pro at it if he really wanted to. Some of my favourite times were going to the park with Tai and playing soccer, usually in the rain. He always claimed that it was better to play in the rain because then he had a legitimate reason to fall over and not look like a fool.

He always loved to make people laugh. He may not have been the smartest person in the year level, but he was great at cheering someone up and he was great at practical jokes. Even the teachers he tricked got along with him in the end. I remember that everyone used to wait in anticipation for Tai's next trick," she began to lose a bit of her composure but she just bit her lip and continued on, "I knew Tai for most of his life and he and I were really close, but he has-had so many friends, all of which were very close. The digidestined are like a family. Tai was our leader, headstrong and extremely stubborn most of the time, but he never really led us wrong. He held the group together many times when we were going to go our separate ways and he always helped us out, whenever he could. I could stay up here all day and talk about what a wonderful person Tai was, but there is no use. All that I will say now is that Tai would want us all to live life to the full and live our lives the way we want to," she quietly went back to her seat, taking her paper with her. Small drops stained the paper where her silent tears had fallen. She hadn't managed to keep her tears in after all. For the rest of the service she was lost in memories that she had had with her fiancé.

_F L A S H B A C K_

_The two of them were lying in the park, ignoring the chilling rain that was falling around them. They had just finished playing a game of soccer. As it always ended up those days, Tai had won._

_"It's not fair! Why do you always win?" the 16 year old Sora complained, pushing her hair behind her ears. Tai laughed, throwing the ball up in the air and then catching it as it fell._

_"Because I still play soccer and you quit. Come on, why did you start up tennis anyway if you wanted to beat me at soccer?" Sora stuck her tongue out at him and that promptly began a contest as to who could keep their tongue out the longest. Sora won._

_"Ha! See? At least I can still beat you at something!"_

_"Yeah, but only because you use your tongue too much. It probably can lift up a bus with the amount of exercise you give it!" Sora punched him playfully, accepting the lame insult with a laugh._

_"I guess that it's true, but if so your tongue would be able to lift the entire world. You get a whole lot more exercise than I do," she had no idea why they were carrying on with this completely lame and stupid argument, but it was fun anyway. Tai rolled his eyes._

_"You can't use someone else's comeback as your own Sora, we've been through this! You have to come up with something more original," he told her mockingly joking. Sora's response was again to stick out her tongue, but this time it went unchallenged._

_"Wow, you've really grown up Tai!" she told him as he just rolled his eyes again. Their arguments always seemed to follow a similar pattern, whatever they argued about. Suddenly the expression on Tai's face changed until it was almost serious. Sora was surprised. She had not expected him to change his mood so quickly, "What's wrong?"_

_"Nothing, I guess I'm just thinking about the future," he did not know what had prompted him to start thinking about it. Just something in her voice when she had said that he was growing up as well as the rumors he had heard floating around the soccer team's change rooms after practice._

_"Why would you be thinking about it now? I thought that your motto was 'I'll think about it when it happens.'" The whole mood of the conversation had changed and she felt as though something was going to happen. She did not know what, but she was hoping that he would…_

_"Just some rumors I heard floating around," he tried to dismiss it, but she would not let him._

_"What rumors? Were they about you?"_

_"No… they were about someone else. They weren't really rumors, but questions someone asked me."_

_"And what were those questions? I mean, come on. When have you ever thought about the future before?" he looked away, trying to stop his cheeks from turning a light pink, but failing miserably._

_"I do so think about the future! And anyway, the questions they were asking were about a certain red-headed, soccer-loving girl that I happen to be acquainted with," she sat up suddenly, her wet hair slumping forward._

_"What were they asking about me for?" she tried to sound calm, but her heart was racing. She wasn't interested in any of the guys on the soccer team bar one, and from the sounds of it, he wasn't all that interested in her._

_"Oh, they just asked me if I thought that you were attracted to them or not," he smirked, knowing how much she was going to kill them._

_"WHAT!?"_

_"Don't worry about it. Daniel was going to ask you out, but I told him that you loved girls."_

_"WHAT!?"_

_"Jeez Sora, chill out! I'm only kidding. I just told him that I didn't think you were interested. Of course I left out how many times you had called him an 'idiotic psychotic axe-murderer' but he got the idea."_

_"So he isn't going to ask me out?" she asked hopefully, wanting to throw up at the thought of dating the boy._

_"Yeah, he's going to ask Mimi out instead. Of course I decided to restrain from telling him that Mimi has an over-protective boyfriend, so he's in for a big surprise!" she giggled and lay back on the muddy grass again, imagining the beating Daniel was going to receive from Joe. The Digidestined of Reliability did not look it, but he could bash up anyone that wanted to steal his girlfriend away._

_"Thanks Tai. At least he's not going to be on my back now. I don't even know how he could have gotten the impression that I liked him."_

_"Well… you always hang around the soccer pitch. I guess he thought that it was because you were waiting for him and not your best friend," Tai was watching the rain fall now, loving the way that it seemed to make everything shine, as though each thing was special in its own way._

_"But he should have known that I was just waiting for you," she sat up again, feeling the cold mud start to sink through her t-shirt onto her back, "We should probably get going now before we get sick." He reluctantly stood up, wiping as much mud from his shirt as he could. They began the walk home as usual, but this time Tai had become silent._

_"Tai are you alright? You've been drifting away for the past fifteen minutes," the brunette snapped back to attention and grinned apologetically._

_"Sorry Sora, it's just that I have something on my mind," she just raised an eyebrow._

_"You actually have a mind?" she tried to lighten up his mood, but it didn't work, "Tai, I'm your best friend. You can tell me anything and I won't judge you or stop being your friend or do anything stupid like that. Come on, you can tell me anything!" He stopped walking and turned so that he was facing her._

_"I can tell you anything and you won't get mad?" she nodded, a little suspicious._

_"Yeah, of course!"_

_"You'll be my friend no matter what?"_

_"Now you're asking stupid questions. Of course I'll always be your friend."_

_"Do you promise?" he was really making her nervous, with all of his questions. She held out her right pinky and he held out his. They hooked pinkies and shook on it._

_"I promise."_

_"Okay… I love you."_

_"Of course you do, I'm your best friend! Now tell me what is on your mind."_

_"I just did. I love you," her heart was racing. Was he saying what she thought he was saying?_

_"What do you mean? I don't understand."_

_"Oh… it's uh, nothing," he began to walk again, his cheeks burning. She was confused. He was so embarrassed. He had at least thought that she would know what he was talking about._

_"Tai wait!" he stopped and waited as she caught up._

_"I'm sorry about that," he apologised as they continued on, "I don't really know what made me say that."_

_"Did you mean it?" she stopped walking, causing him to stop too. She turned him around so that he was facing her and stared into his eyes, knowing that he would eventually repeat himself. He knew that she knew too._

_"Yes. I'm hopelessly head-over-heels in love with my best friend. There, I said it," his cheeks were a bright red by this time and she had to laugh._

_"Well, I'm happy to say that I know what you're going through. I'm hopelessly head-over-heels in love with my best friend too," even though he had been hoping for that answer, he hadn't been expecting it._

_"You what?" her answer was to kiss him. When they finally broke for oxygen he realised what had just happened._

_"I love you," she laughed at his expression; he was still in shock._

_"I love you too," and they leaned in for another kiss…_

_E N D  O F  F L A S H B A C K_

The last pieces of dirt were being thrown onto the grave. Tai would remain there forever now. She was vaguely aware that others were leaving around her, but she ignored them. She could feel the other digidestined standing around her, as well as the Kamiyas and her own mother. But no one really felt like talking. The only noises she could hear were the quiet sobs of Kari, T.K, Mimi and Mrs. Kamiya. Even though she could not see them, she knew that everyone around her was crying, even though she could not see or hear all of them. She also knew that she herself was crying, although she could not feel the tears. She felt detached from herself, as though she was floating somewhere that was nowhere near where she was. It was almost like the whole ordeal was only a dream. She bit her lip and then turned and left quickly, ignoring the surprised cry of her mother to come back. She just wanted to be alone.

She didn't know how long it had been, but it must have been hours before Matt finally found her. She didn't know whether it had taken him that long because he couldn't find her or if he had thought that she needed some time alone. It was probably the second option because she was in the park, in the place where she and Tai had always gone to play soccer.

"Hey Sora," he said quietly, sitting down on the ground beside her. She didn't reply for a long time.

"Hi Matt," she said eventually, lifting her eyes off the ground. She knew that her eyes were red and puffy, but for once she did not care that someone was seeing her cry.

"How are you?" she looked back to the ground, unable to answer at that second without saying something sarcastic.

"I don't really know," she admitted, her gaze now going to the sky. She couldn't really concentrate on anything; her mind was too preoccupied.

"I know what you mean. It is hard to accept it," they lapsed into silence. Matt knew that Sora needed to talk about it, but he also knew that he shouldn't push her too far.

"It's just that… that morning we went out to have fun. He kept on refusing to tell me where we were going. And then in the afternoon he proposed. It was the best day of my life until… That stupid driver! I don't even really remember how it happened. We were driving through the lights, I remember that, and then there was a loud banging sound and the car was going sideways. I just don't understand how he was killed and yet I walked away perfectly fine. Why is it always the innocent that have to suffer? The other driver was drunk and yet he is completely fine. He didn't even seem to care that he had killed someone. Why is it that a monster like that managed to survive when a good person like Tai had to die? I don't understand it!" Matt didn't know how to reply. He didn't know the answer either.

"I don't think that anyone understands it Sora, but it happens. Maybe that guy had been drinking because he had just lost a loved one and he thought that it was unfair. Maybe his punishment was to survive and go to jail and have to live miserably for a while. Maybe God needed Tai and not the other guy. There are a lot of 'maybes' but there is no definite answer. We have to accept that," his voice broke in the middle of this speech and Sora looked at him again. He was crying. Although she had seen him crying in the Church, seeing him cry now was surprising. Matt had never been one to show his emotions.

"But why then?"

"I don't know," Matt watched Sora closely. She had practically collapsed, both physically and mentally. She felt so empty, so alone. Even though she still had her friends and family around where she could talk to them, she did not have Tai. That fact was painfully obvious to her. Tai was gone.

"Why does it have to hurt so much?" she whispered, staring back up at the sky. Matt was beginning to wonder if she could see something in the grey clouds. She had been staring at them for almost the entire conversation. He also noticed that she had been unconsciously playing with the ring that sat on her left hand.

"I don't know," he felt as though he was a parrot, repeating the same thing over and over again.

"I suppose the only thing we do know is that he's gone," she said a little vaguely, still staring at the sky.

"Yeah, I suppose it is."

Six years had passed since Tai's death and Sora was now a teacher at a local girls' school. She was managing to move on with her life, to a point. She still woke up sometimes in the middle of the night after having nightmares about Tai's death. She would see Tai trapped in the wreckage of the car crying out for help with everyone ignoring him. She would cry out and try to get people to notice him, but then the car would explode and Tai would be gone forever. These were of course, only dreams, but they scared her to no end. She had been unconscious when she was taken from the car and she had never been told how Tai had died. She had not really wanted to know.

She still kept in touch with the other digidestined. They were not going to fall apart, although tragedy had torn through the group twice now. Two years after Tai's death, Izzy died of cancer. He had been twenty at the time and he had known that he had cancer for a year. He just hadn't wanted to tell them. But the death of two of their number had made sure that the digidestined stayed closer than ever. They met up every Saturday night, and the night changed if Joe was working or Matt's wife was sick or things like that. All they knew was that they had to stick together.

"Sora what class do you have next?" Kari also worked at the girls' school. She and T.K had gotten married the year before. They had not wanted tragedy to mar their happiness once again.

"Year eight. They have to give their speeches on a topic of their choice. Do you have a free period?" Kari nodded, stacking another pile of papers onto the desk in front of them. It was their coffee break and they were the only teachers left in the staff room. The others were all at separate meetings with the year 12 students, who were all stressing over the final exams.

"Yeah, I'm free. Why?"

"I just have a feeling that I'm going to need you for something. I don't really know why," she looked at her watch before gathering the armful of books and papers she was going to need for the lesson.

"I'll be right here with this wad of paperwork," Kari groaned as she realised that there was more work for her in her pigeon-hole.

"Thanks Kari. Well, I'll see you later," she exited the staff room and made her way across the hallway to the year eight area. The year sevens were in the same building as the year eights, along with the staff room that Sora and Kari had desks in.

"Miss Takenouchi, I am really looking forward to my presentation," a tall blond haired girl with green eyes told her earnestly. She was walking along side her with her small stack of books and speech cards.

"I'm glad to hear that Lizzie. What is your topic?"

"It's a secret," the girl said mischievously and she dodged away to her seat.

"Well, since you are so excited about it, why don't you go first?" at the front of the classroom a laptop was set up. This laptop was connected to a projector so that whatever was on the screen came up on the board. Lizzie left her seat and began to fiddle with the laptop, bringing her presentation up onto the screen.

**_DRINKING & DRIVING_**

Sora froze as she saw those words appear. She should have known that this would happen. She had to learn to get over it. Many people died in car accidents and people had to learn that drink driving was wrong. Tai had died and he wouldn't have wanted her to dwell on it too much. He would have wanted her to be happy.

"Come on class, we'll have to hurry to get through the presentations," the girls slowly became quiet, their focus switching to either daydreams or the girl up the front. Sora nodded at Lizzie and she began to speak.

"Good morning everyone my topic for the speech today is drinking and driving. This practice is very wrong as it can change the lives of many innocent people and it can also kill them. But it is not only bad for the victims, but also bad for the driver," she clicked the mouse on the computer and a picture came up on the screen. It was a picture of a car crash. But it wasn't any car crash. It was the one that Sora and Tai had been involved in six years before. Sora froze at the back of the room as she recognised the car and the location. She could not believe that after all of these years, she was being confronted by the same scene.

"This is a car crash that happened six years ago. A drunk driver in the red car on the right of the screen, crashed into this blue car as they were going through the lights. The driver of the blue car, a young guy named Taichi Kamiya, was killed in the accident and his fiancé sustained injuries. The driver of the red car got off free of injuries. But did he really? The driver of the car was my father and he was jailed for five years because of this accident," Sora was shaking, "My father was the one that caused the accident and he was drunk at the time. He had just had a fight with my mother and he had gone to a bar and gotten drunk. He had climbed into the car without thinking and by doing so he killed an innocent man. It destroyed my father. He went to jail, but when he got out last year he told us that it wasn't enough. He told us that he wished that he had died in the place of the young man. On the radio the song 'The Reason' by Hoobastank was playing. My father says that these words stuck in his head after the accident.

_I'm sorry that I hurt you_

_It's something I must live with everyday_

_And all the pain I put you through_

_I wish I could take it all away…_

"He wishes that he could say these to the people in the accident."

Sora had had enough. She could not take it anymore.

"Lizzie, please stop your presentation," it was said in a firm voice and Lizzie immediately stopped.

"But I still have more to say," she complained, although one look at her teacher made her shut her mouth quickly.

"I cannot mark this presentation. Please find another topic and I will give you another week to work on it," she had to stop shaking, but she couldn't. Her memories of that day, which she had tried so hard to keep away, now came flooding back.

"Why? Is it because my father was drunk and he killed someone accidentally?" the girl's voice was defensive, as though Sora was accusing her of doing something wrong.

"No, it's nothing like that… It's just… I was in that accident and it was my fiancé that was killed. I would rather that you found something else to speak on, that is all," Lizzie's face went pale and her eyes wide.

"But I looked it up and it said that the guy's fiancé was called Sora and I didn't think that was your name and… I'm so sorry."

"For the record my name is Sora. Look Lizzie, you didn't know. It's okay. You have another week to come up with another presentation. If you can't do it, then it's fine. Now Amanda, can you please start setting up. I'll be back in five minutes. Please do not disturb other classes," she stood and left the room quickly, wanting to get out of the room before the tears started to fall. She made her way back to the staffroom where she knew Kari was still working.

"Sora, what are you doing back here?" then she saw Sora's tears. She quickly left her desk and wrapped the elder woman in a warm hug, "Sora what's wrong?"

"Can you please take over my class for me? I-I just need ten minutes," she struggled to stop the flow of tears and stepped back out of Kari's embrace, "Please?"

"Of course," Kari grabbed a few books and headed straight for the year eight classroom. She knew that the class could not be left alone for too long and she also knew that she would not get anything out of Sora. She might as well find out from the class itself.

When Kari arrived in the classroom she found the class silent. That in itself was a miracle.

"What's going on in here?" she asked as she placed her books down carefully on the desk.

"Where's Miss Takenouchi?" a short brunette named Tanja asked shyly, watching as Kari placed her books down.

"She'll be back in about five minutes or so. She asked me to look after you guys until she gets back," she turned to see what was on the presentation board and froze.

"Mrs. Takaishi?" she bit her tongue and turned to face the young girl that had spoken.

"Was this presentation up when Miss Takenouchi left?"

"Yes. It was my presentation. I didn't realise that the guy killed in the accident was Miss Takenouchi's fiancé," Lizzie was packing up her things slowly, but the image was still on the screen.

"No wonder she's upset… she and Tai were so close…" she muttered to herself. She had meant for the words only to be heard by herself, but Lizzie caught them.

"Did you know him too? I'm really sorry," she looked stressed because her presentation had made so many people upset.

"Yeah, he was my brother, but its okay. Neither Sora nor I blame you. You didn't know about it," Kari assured the girl, feeling bad because Lizzie was feeling bad.

"No, I mean that I'm sorry that it was my father that was driving the car when he was drunk. He is really sorry you know," Lizzie insisted, about to burst into tears.

"I'm sure he is, but let's just change the topic. Finish packing up your presentation please," Kari didn't want to know that it was her father. She preferred to keep the killer nameless so she could hate him better. Lizzie obliged and soon Sora was back to watch the next presentation…

"Sora are you sure that you want an interview with this guy?" Kari double-checked. It was parent-teacher evening and it was the coffee break. Sora's next interview happened to be with Lizzie's parents and Kari wanted to make sure that Sora was okay with meeting the man that had killed Tai.

"Yes. He has a right to know how his daughter is doing in Japanese and he should be told first hand. He shouldn't have to rely on his wife for the information," she could see that Kari wasn't too happy, "Look, if I don't think that I can take it anymore then I'll leave. But I have to give them an accurate report; it's my job."

"Okay… but the minute that you feel uncomfortable, you _have_ to leave them, okay?"

"Okay," she could tell that Kari still wasn't happy, but it was the best thing she could do. She felt that she was obligated to talk to both of Lizzie's parents, and that was what she was going to do.

"Okay, coffee break is over. We've got to get back," there was a collective groan from all of the teachers at this remark from the principal and there was a loud scraping back of chairs.

"At least it's my last interview," Sora said lightly, trying to calm down. She was really nervous about this last interview and she fingered her engagement ring unconsciously. After all of the years, she still wore the ring that Tai had given her. She knew that she would never love anyone as much as she had loved Tai.

"Good luck Sora," Kari whispered to her before they separated to go to their different tables. Sitting at Sora's table were Lizzie's parents. Lizzie's mother was a tall, thin blond with strange brown eyes. She was dressed in old jeans and a warm jumper, as the air outside was cold. Her husband had curly brown hair that was cut short. His eyes were blue and Sora felt cold when she saw them. Then again, she knew that he was responsible for Tai's death and therefore her judgement may not have been accurate. She took her place opposite them and tried her hardest to give them a pleasant smile.

"Good evening, you must be Lizzie's parents. My name is Miss Takenouchi and I am Lizzie's Japanese teacher," she shook hands with each of them as she introduced herself, feeling as though her smile was completely fake.

"I'm Gary and this is my wife Charlotte. How is Lizzie doing in your subject?"

"Lizzie is actually a very good student. She grasps concepts well and she has had no problems handling the texts we have been studying. The only problem that I have come across with Lizzie was her oral presentation, but we sorted that out."

"What was the problem with it? I told her where she could find the newspaper clippings once she told me what she wanted to talk about and I read the presentation through once she had written it. I thought that it was very good," Charlotte commented, looking a bit serious.

"I'm sure the presentation _was_ good, but I couldn't really concentrate on it. You see the topic was… I couldn't grade it," Gary raised his eyebrow.

"I read the speech too and I thought that it was okay. Are you saying that you couldn't grade it because in the presentation she told you that her father killed someone?" he was very defensive. Sora shook her head quickly, not wanting them to get the wrong idea.

"No, of course not. It's just… the accident that she focused on… I was in that accident and Tai was my fiancé. I would have graded the presentation but I couldn't concentrate on what Lizzie was saying. Her presentation probably was good. That is why when she did her next topic she got an A. But I just couldn't grade that topic," Gary's eyes had gone wide and Charlotte was holding his hand tightly. This was the first time that he had seen Sora as being one of the victims of the car crash. He was shocked.

"I'm so sorry," he told her, his voice a little strained, "I didn't mean it."

"Yeah, I know. But you still did it," she was starting to feel a little uncomfortable. Out of the corner of her eye she could sense Kari watching her.

"How old was he? That is if you don't mind me asking. They didn't tell me anything," Sora took a deep breath and realised that she was calm. She wasn't on the verge of tears or in an angry rage. She knew that all of that would come later, where Gary would not have the satisfaction of seeing it.

"Nineteen. He'd asked me to marry him only two hours or so before the accident," she watched as Gary looked at the ground. She knew that he was feeling bad, but she could not stop hating him.

"I'm so sorry. If I'd have known I would never have…"

"You should never drink and drive anyway," she saw Kari rise from her seat and come towards her. It looked like Kari had finished all of her interviews.

"Sora are you okay?" Kari asked her quietly, coming up from beside her.

"This is Kari Takaishi, another teacher here," Sora introduced her whilst giving her a look that said 'what-are-you-doing-here?'

"I overheard you talking about my brother," Kari said smoothly, taking a seat next to Sora, "And I thought that I might want to hear this too. That is, if you don't mind." Charlotte and Gary looked a little confused.

"Kari is Tai's little sister," Sora filled them in. She didn't blame Kari for wanting to listen in, but her actions were a little rude.

"I'm-

"Yeah, you're sorry. I heard you the first time. Look, we don't need your apologies okay? We have moved on from this in various ways, and we don't need apologies. If you want to talk about it, then talk, don't just apologise," Sora raised both of her eyebrows at Kari's tirade. For the first time ever Kari sounded as though she didn't care about somebody. Gary just nodded, as though he understood.

"I just want to know a little more about him. Then maybe I can find a way to help people somehow, a way to help me understand this too," he pleaded. Charlotte looked interested in knowing too. Obviously this had been hard for her as well as her husband.

"I knew Tai since I was four years old. I met him playing soccer, and he asked me out on our first date after playing soccer. He loved that sport and he had been offered a place on the Japanese team. He had received the offer about a week before the accident. He was also a digidestined. Have you heard of them?" Gary nodded, "Well, he was our leader. He held us all together many times. He had the crest of Courage, which meant that the trait he most believed in was courage. He could always make people laugh and he knew how to cheer people up when they were down. He wasn't exactly smart, but it didn't matter. He was the best person I ever knew. Does that make you feel better?" She hadn't meant to be so abrupt, but the words had just come out of her mouth that way. Gary took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry. I know that I keep on saying it, but it's because I mean it. I have a son too, and his name happens to be Taichi. He was born years before the accident, but don't you think it was ironic? I keep on having nightmares that it was my son that was killed instead of your fiancé. I remember being shown into a room after the accident and being forced to look at the person I had killed. That was the worst experience I have ever had. Do you know what it feels like to know that you have killed someone? It is the worst feeling in the world."

"But you deserve it. You killed another person. I'm sorry, I usually am very forgiving of people, but I cannot forgive you. If it had been an accident, then I would have forgiven you. But because you got into that car drunk, knowing that you had been drinking then it was no accident. It was meant to have happened because you did not think. If you had not had any alcohol, then my brother would still be alive today. Now I think that it would be best if we say goodbye to you now. I'm sure that Sora may see you at next semester's parent-teacher interviews. Good night," Kari took Sora's hand and almost pulled her out of the room.

"Kari what are you doing?" Sora whispered fiercely. She was grateful to the girl for saying what was on her mind, but she was terrified of what Gary and Charlotte would think.

"I just said what you were too afraid to say. Now come on, now that that is over, let's go out and go drink some tea. It'll calm us down," and with that they left the hall, ready to go to Kari's place and have a long chat…

End of Chapter…

Litanya: Well… that was Sora's story. Next chapter is Tai's story and then after that it is the epilogue kind of thing. I'm not really sure if it is the epilogue… it's more like the end of the fic. Anyway, it is the school holidays now, so this fic and 'An Old Box' will probably be finished by the 20th of July or maybe a little after that. Please review and I'll see you in the next chapter!


	3. Tai's Story

Litanya: Good'ay again. I see that I have managed to confuse many people with this fic. Do not worry, after the next chapter everything will fall into place.

I do not own digimon, so yeah… this fic is only written for fun and to entertain others (or at least it tries to) with no benefit coming to me except for your reviews and personal happiness.

**_The Reason_**

****

**_Tai's Story_**

Before he even opened his eyes he knew something was wrong. Something just did not feel right. He tried to remember what had happened, but all he could remember was panicking because a car was heading straight at them and…

"Tai are you awake?" it was Kari's voice, but it sounded strained. It sounded as though she had been crying, and from the sound of it, she had been crying for days. He slowly opened his eyes, noting how hard it was as he did so, "Tai I'm so glad that you are awake!" He was in a hospital room. There was a machine humming on his right and he vaguely registered that there was a thin plastic tube that joined the machine to his arm. Kari was seated on his left, and there were two empty chairs that were positioned next to her. On one of the chairs he recognised his mother's jacket.

"W-what happened Kari?" he was confused. If only he could figure out what was going on, then maybe he could feel better. Kari's eyes were red and puffy from crying. She looked like she had not slept in days and she was literally drooping in her chair, although she tried to pretend that she wasn't.

"It does not matter what happened, all that matters is that you are awake. You scared me for a moment there," she avoided the question, and he knew that she was hiding something.

"I remember that I was driving Sora home and then… there was that car. It went straight through the lights but… I don't remember," it was like a jigsaw puzzle that was missing a piece. He knew that it was important, but he did not know why.

"It's okay, I'm sure that you will remember later, but now it is important for you to get better," she evaded his eyes and tried to smooth over her subject change, but Tai knew her better than that.

"What exactly is wrong with me anyway?"

"You were in a car crash. You- I'd better let the doctor explain, he knows more than I do."

"Where's Sora? If I was in a car crash, then that means that she was too, right? Is she okay?" Kari looked away, at the ceiling; anywhere she could to avoid his gaze. She did not want to be the one to tell him the news. By the way Kari tensed up; Tai knew that something was wrong. Kari would never hesitate to tell him good news, but she always tried to hide the bad things from him. Luckily for Kari at that moment their parents returned from getting some coffee.

"Tai you're awake! How are you feeling honey?" Mari put down the coffee she was holding and rushed to the side of the bed, her eyes anxious and worried.

"Umm… fine I guess. I just can't remember what happened and Kari is hiding things from me," Tai replied, although he was not very sure. He had not really thought about how he was feeling. It had not occurred to him before because he had been too confused. Now that he thought about it though, he wished he had not. His right side ached dully, as though it had been aching for a long time and was too stubborn to stop. His right arm was also throbbing a little, though that was not what was worrying him. He could not feel his legs. It was a horrible feeling. He did not mention it to his parents though, as he knew it would worry them. That was if they did not already know.

"Are you sure? There's nothing out of the ordinary?" his mother pressed. That was when he realised that they did know and they were worried about him.

"Maybe there is, but you guys seem to know about it already," they looked a little embarrassed at his blunt statement. They knew that they had no reason to hide the extent of his injuries from him, but they did not want to tell him about Sora. It would destroy him.

"You're right Tai, but we just want to make sure that you are okay before we tell you anything," Alexi told his son, sitting in the chair next to Kari. Tai just raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I'm fine. That means that you can tell me what happened to Sora now," his parents exchanged glances.

"Maybe we should get your doctor here to check that you're okay," she ignored his question, not wanting to upset him. But by avoiding the question she told him the answer.

"She died didn't she? Why can't you just tell me?" he asked quietly, looking the other way. He didn't want them to see his face, as if that could show them what he was feeling.

"We didn't want you to get upset. We knew that you would get really upset and we just wanted to make sure that you were okay before you found out," Kari tried to explain, seeing that her brother was trying to keep his emotions away from them, "It was a serious accident. Sora was killed but you were badly injured too. We didn't want you to just give up because you knew that she wasn't okay. We were afraid that we would lose you too."

"Tai please understand. You were hurt and we didn't know what to do. Please understand. We want Sora to be alive just as much as you do," Mari told him somberly, obviously distressed at the situation she was facing. Tai still did not look at them.

"I understand," his voice was calm. That told Mari that he was in some kind of shock. He had just been told that his girlfriend was dead, and yet he was calm. She had no idea that Sora was his fiancée, but she still knew that he was not acting correctly.

"Are you sure that you are okay?"

"I'm fine," his voice was still emotionless, but it had an undertone of something that she could not quite put her finger on. At that moment the doctor decided to pop in.

"Am I interrupting anything?" it was Joe's older brother, Jim Kido.

"No, it's fine Doctor Kido. We'll just step out for a while whilst you talk to Tai," Mari gathered all of her things and ushered her husband and daughter out of the room, leaving Jim alone with Tai.

"So Tai, how are you feeling?"

"A little bit like I've been run over by a bus, but okay," Tai replied a little uncertainly. He didn't really know how he was feeling. He knew that he was in a bit of pain, but that was not what he meant. He had just been told that Sora was dead but he felt... nothing. It was like he was trapped in a bubble, and his feelings were floating around on the other side of the bubble's edge. He was afraid that if he burst the bubble, the pain would get worse.

"It's a stupid question, isn't it? You were just in a car crash and people keep on asking you how you are. I'm not going to sugar-coat anything for you because I know your character. You want to know the worst so that you can deal with it and get it over with, right?"

"I suppose so," he was still in his bubble, and he wasn't really listening very closely.

"Okay… you were paralyzed in the accident. You will never be able to walk again, as far as we can see anyway," there was a short silence.

"I had guessed something like that," Tai finally replied, once he had figured out what Jim had just told him, "I'll get over it I guess." That was the calmest reply Jim had ever received. Usually when he told someone that they would never walk again there was an angry outburst, tears or a stormy silence that seemed to drag on forever. Never before had Jim received such a collected reply.

"Tai, you do realise what that means don't you? It means that you will be in a wheelchair for the rest of your life and you won't be able to play normal soccer or really live your life as you are at the moment. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I do. I'll get over it."

"Okay… if you ever need to talk, I'm here. And Joe's always around too," Jim offered before he left the room. He had other patients to check on. Tai hardly noticed him leave the room. It was hard for him to concentrate on anything. Kari slipped back in to the room, but he didn't notice her at all until she spoke.

"What do you think about what Jim told you?" he shrugged in reply.

"I'll get over it," he repeated, feeling a lot like an answering machine. He was not fully aware of what he was saying, but he knew that it was the same thing over and over again.

"That's all?" she inquired. She knew her brother very well, but she had not expected him to act calm at all. She had thought that he would at least have been angry at the other driver, but he had not mentioned it at all. It was almost as if Tai was in a separate world to where his emotions were. It was scary.

"Why, what else is there to think? I know that you expect me to be upset or angry, but you cannot undo what is already done with anger or tears. That's what Sora always said anyway. And do you know what? She's right. No matter what I want to do to that other driver, it won't get her back and it won't help me to walk. However much I scream or cry I am not going to be able to walk. So I should just get over it and try to move on in my life," he did not believe a word that he was saying. The words were just tumbling out of his mouth without his brain even stopping to think about them. He recognised the advice that Sora had always given him, but the rest was just a jumble. Kari was surprised. He was taking it much better than expected and he even seemed sincere. But she was suspicious. She knew better than anyone that he could say one thing and sound completely sincere, when he meant something completely different in reality.

"I think that you're in shock. I mean, you have just lost your girlfriend in a-

"Fiancée actually," he corrected her without thinking. He seemed to be doing everything without thinking and it was starting to make him wonder what was wrong with his brain.

"You proposed to her?" Kari's eyes went wide with disbelief. She had never thought that Tai would ever have gotten up the courage to do something like that. It had taken him years to gather the required courage to tell Sora that he loved her and Kari had expected it to be a few more years before he would have proposed.

"Yeah, at the beach where we had spent the day. It was supposed to be a surprise for everyone but… only Sora knew before the crash," he refused to say that it was an accident, although he had no idea why.

"I'm so sorry," Kari's eyes began to water again as she realised that she had lost her going-to-be sister-in-law. She had known that Tai would have married Sora anyway, but the fact that they had been engaged just before Sora had died seemed to make the realization hit closer to home. She did not know how Tai could remain so… unemotional. If she did not know him as well as she did, she would have said that he did not care. But she knew that that was not possible. Tai loved Sora with all of his heart, and she knew that he would continue to do so. Just because Sora was dead it did not mean that he could not love her.

"Why? I always hate it when people apologise for no reason. It was not your fault that the crash happened nor is it your fault that Sora died. Therefore you do not need to apologise. It is as simple as that."

"Tai, what are we going to do with you?" she whispered to herself as she finally sat down, ready to be there when her brother finally cracked…

It was Sora's funeral. All of the digidestined were there, sitting in the front two rows along with Sora's mother. Mrs. Takenouchi had just finished making her speech and Matt was walking up to the front. He was going to make a speech, and then it was Tai's turn. Tai was seated in his wheelchair, his face displaying no emotion. Kari glanced at him from time to time, worried. He had never broken down and cried like she had been expecting him to, but instead he had kept up a calm façade, as though nothing was wrong. It was very worrying, especially due to his circumstances. Matt placed his speech on the podium in front of him and began to speak.

"Sora was a friend to everyone. I remember that even when I first met her I knew that she was a good person. She seemed to care about everyone…" Tai tuned out. It wasn't because Matt's speech was bad, but because it hurt. It hurt to hear people talk about her like she was gone. He knew that she had died, but he did not want to believe it, so he chose not to. He did not believe that she was dead and he did not believe that he was paralyzed. Deep down he knew that this charade could not last for long, but his heart was desperate for him to keep it up.

"She was always ready to help out a friend in need, no matter what time or where they were or anything…" Matt's speech continued. Tai had tried to refuse to speak, but they had told him that they wanted all of the digidestined to say something. He had not been able to refuse after that. He waited until Matt had finished his speech and then he wheeled himself to the front of the Church.

"Sora always used to say that I wasn't good with words, so this will be short. The one piece of advice that Sora would probably give us now is this; you cannot undo what is already done with anger or tears. She would not want us to cry, or to be angry that it happened. That is not to say though, that we won't cry or be upset, but that would be what she would have said. Sora is Sora; she always was and always will be Sora, wherever she is now. She always used to give me that same advice whenever I would get angry at people, and I know that she would say that now," he wheeled himself back to his 'seat' beside Kari, ignoring the confused looks he was getting. He had said all that he was going to say on the matter and his speech was finished as far as he was concerned.

"Are you okay?" it was the question he hated hearing. Kari was looking worried again, mainly because Tai had sounded as though Sora was still alive when he had spoken.

"I'm fine," he answered automatically and he pretended to concentrate on Mimi, who was getting ready to speak. But in reality his mind was drifting. His thoughts were dwelling on one particular thing that Sora had made him promise…

_F L A S H B A C K_

_They were walking through the park. It was a sunny day, perfect for a walk or a game of soccer. But for once something was stopping the teens from playing. Instead they had decided that a walk would clear their heads. Maybe after that they could have their soccer game. So they were idly walking along the black concrete path, holding hands and talking. It was, after all, almost their two year anniversary since the day they had confessed their love._

_"What's wrong Sora?" they had been walking and talking for the past ten minutes, but Tai had sensed that something was not right. Even though she was talking and laughing like she usually would, there was just something that was different. That worried him._

_"How did you know there was something wrong?" she sounded a little surprised, but Tai knew that she wasn't._

_"Well, I have known you since we were four you know. It's easy to tell when something is wrong. Usually you laugh like a hyena at some of the jokes I have been telling," he replied a little cheekily, earning a light hit on the shoulder. He was partly serious though._

_"I don't know… I just had this freaky dream last night. It basically showed your life if I died in a few years. I-It really scared me," she shuddered as she remembered her nightmare. She wasn't sure if it was the things that she had seen in the dream or the thought of herself being dead that scared her the most._

_"It was only a dream Sora… see you're still here, alive. Do you want to talk about it anyway? Maybe that would help you," he offered, putting his arm around her shoulder as she shuddered. They continued to walk, but they no longer took in their surroundings. Their conversation was the only thing that they had on their minds._

_"Not really… it wasn't very nice. I just want you to promise me one thing…" she trailed off as if she did not quite know how to phrase it._

_"You've always said that 'm not very good with words, so jut tell me what it is in whatever words you want and I will understand it. I'm sure that I will promise it anyway," Sora still seemed to be hesitating over the wording. For some reason that he did not know, it was important to her._

_"I just want you to promise me that you won't get angry or upset if I ever die before you. I know you… you would want to hurt whoever or whatever had killed me. Just in case it ever happens… humour me if you will… please promise me that you will not get too emotional over my death. Please," she begged. It seemed so important to her that he could not refuse._

_"I promise you Sora, that if you ever die in the future before I do, I will not get overemotional and I will refrain from killing anyone that hurts you. Is that it?"_

_"Cross your heart?" she still pressed. The dream had made her absolutely terrified._

_"Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye. I promise you," she suddenly smiled, feeling a lot better._

_"Good. If you don't keep your promise then I'll haunt you and make sure that you never rest peacefully or do anything… I'd make your life Hell!" she threatened, her whole presence becoming more relaxed._

_"Yeah, but my plan if I die first is to haunt you anyway. I don't want you to forget about me," Tai told her jokingly, "But I suppose that you would be in tears for years anyway. I am, of course, such a great person that you would miss me too much." Sora rolled her eyes._

_"Yeah, in your dreams crazy guy," she told him, skipping ahead so that she was walking backwards in front of him, "If you died then I'd probably throw a party."_

_"Humph, fine then. I don't care if you don't love me. I'll go and find another girlfriend then," he mocked being upset, letting her hand fall back next to her thigh._

_"I'm really sorry Tai, will you ever take me back?" she grabbed his hand again and made a sad face that could have gotten her a job on any soap opera… or a comedy show. He pretended to think about it._

_"I don't know Sora… after all, you did have that affair with that Jason guy before he was hit by that train that was carrying Barbie to Ken..." he was thoroughly enjoying this mock soap opera. It was earning them a few strange looks, but they did not care._

_"It didn't mean anything, I swear it! I was only in it for the money… but he gave it to that girl __Cocoa__ instead. It turns out that he was already cheating on me too… anyway, I love you, I really do!" to finish off her character she had changed her voice to sound high like a Barbie doll's voice. It seemed to top off the whole show._

_"I suppose that I can trust you just this one last time… but only if you forgive me."_

_"What would I need to forgive you for?"_

_"For doing this," and with that he pulled Sora towards him and kissed her, ending their little play. They broke apart after a few minutes had gone by and resumed their walk as though nothing had happened._

_"So you do promise?" she checked again, something in her voice telling him that it was the last time she was going to check._

_"I promise," he reassured her, "And I _always_ keep my promises." They continued to walk on, their conversation going as far away from sad topics as possible. After all, it was a lovely day…_

_E N D.  O F.  F L A S H B A C K_

_'I always keep my promises,'_ he reminded himself slowly as the last digidestined spoke. He realised then that that was why he had remained practically emotionless about Sora's death and about his paralysis. It was because of that promise. He must have unconsciously remembered it when she had died. And it was because his injuries had come at the same time as Sora's death, he would not allow himself to show too much emotion at that. It would break his promise. So he had to take everything that was thrown at him in a calm manner. One way or another he had to believe that everything would turn out alright. He had to believe it or he would break his promise.

"I wish that this didn't have to happen," Kari was saying to T.K. They were making their way to the grave site, which was around behind the church and a little to the right. Tai was finding it a little hard to force his wheelchair over the grass, but he did not even bother stopping. If he did then Kari or one of the others would lean over, ask if he was alright and then they would take the handles of the chair and push him. He did not want to feel that helpless and he did not want them to think that he was helpless either.

"Yeah, me too," both of them were in tears. They were very emotional people and Sora's death had affected them both very much. In fact, most of the digidestined were either in tears or looked like they were about to be in tears. That did not, of course, include Tai. He was basically the only one that had remained calm. Ten minutes later Sora had been buried. The digidestined and Sora's mother stayed behind at the grave, whilst the other guests left. Mari and Alexi Kamiya saw that their children were staying at the grave and left quietly, knowing that the pair would get home. Mrs. Takenouchi was the first to leave the grave site, the death of her daughter too overwhelming. Then, one by one, the others slowly left, until only four remained.

"Come on T.K, we'd better go," Kari had given up trying to talk to her brother and she hoped that Matt would be able to talk some sense into him. T.K nodded, knowing what Kari was getting at.

"Okay, I'll see you two later. We won't be very far away," he added, in case Tai needed Kari at any time.

"Okay, I'll see you later," Tai seemed totally uninterested in wherever they were going. He did not really know who was leaving this time; the voices had been a buzz to him. The couple walked away, giving Matt a look that clearly said 'you-talk-to-him-now-and-try-to-get-him-to-come-to-his-senses.' Matt gulped as he saw this. He had no idea how to tackle this situation. He thought about it for about twenty more minutes before he decided to breach the silence.

"Tai, we've been here for at least two hours now, maybe we should leave," he suggested. Tai made no movement to leave.

"You can leave if you want to. I'm not really going to stay for much longer anyway," there was an uncomfortable silence as Matt tried to think of a different approach. As he thought about it he realised that everyone had just been skirting around the edge of Tai for the past few days. They had all been worried because he had been injured and he had lost Sora whilst he remained calm, but they had never asked him _why_ he was acting the way he was. Matt knew Tai very well, and he knew that sometimes the best approach was the bluntest.

"Tai, why are you acting like this? It's almost as if you don't care that Sora died at all," he accused, knowing that it would provoke a response from the usually hot-headed leader. This time however, he was wrong.

"But everyone knows that I _do_ care and that is all that matters. Stop trying to provoke an emotional response from me, it won't work. I always keep my promises remember," Matt was confused.

"When did I ever say anything about promises?"

"I promised Sora that if she ever died before me then I wouldn't get overemotional. I always keep my promises. Besides, it's easier to accept something if you don't get emotional over it," Matt had to admit that there was some logic in his reply, but he could still argue.

"But you have to grieve first… you don't have to be overemotional to grieve. What Sora probably meant by that promise was that she didn't want you to go and kill someone," but he could see that his words were not getting through.

"Yeah, and this way it will ensure that I don't kill anyone. I know that everyone is worried, but they shouldn't be. I know that Sora has died and I know that I won't walk again and I have accepted it. It's just that I have chosen to do so this way, that's all. Please tell everyone not to worry; they don't listen to me when I tell them that. Now you were right before when you said that we needed to leave," Tai pushed his chair around, making as if to leave.

"Tai… you do know that no matter what I say, they won't stop worrying, right?"

"Yeah, but at least I'll know that you tried. Now I just need to go home I suppose. This thing can get tiring, as strange as that sounds… especially because I'm sitting down all of the time. Come on, if we're any longer Kari and T.K will die of oxygen deprivation. I know what they've been doing behind those trees over there, and I think it's about time to stop it," it was good to see Tai in a good mood, but he had seemed to be in one ever since the crash. It was creepy.

"I suppose that I will have to agree with you there, but I don't know if they are doing what you think they're doing."

"I know that they're eavesdropping. I just wanted to make them turn red," Tai told him calmly, before wheeling himself over to where his younger sister and her boyfriend were waiting for them, "Now come on Kari and let's go home."

Six years had passed since the accident and Tai still had not cracked. He had remained in his calm state and he had continued to live his life as normally as possible. He had joined a soccer team for paraplegic people and although he did not like it as much as normal soccer, it was still a highlight in his life. He had also taken up the job of coaching his old high school's senior soccer team. It was a duty that he did for free, taking enjoyment out of helping the team win. For the past four years his team had won the school's tournament, and although none of the players made the Japanese team, many of them made district teams.

Kari and T.K were married. They had been gotten married the year before, not wanting something else to happen to the group before they could "be happy" as they put it. Izzy had died of cancer two years after Sora's death, which had made the group even more determined to stick together. After all, they had lost two of their number to death before the oldest of the digidestined had turned twenty-seven. That was the tragedy of the situation. Mimi and Joe were engaged and Matt had married a compassionate girl named Melissa.

"Coach!" Tai sighed and turned his chair around so that he was facing the boy that had called out to him. The boy in question was medium in height and holding a soccer ball under his foot. His name was Taichi, like Tai's own name, but this Taichi was not a very good soccer player. He had only been put into the team because the school said that he had 'poor conditions at home and needed cheering up.' Tai had not been in any position to argue. Ever since Taichi had joined the team however, the boy had done nothing but complain. He blamed his poor soccer skills on Tai and the team was beginning to lose because of the young boy's bad playing. It was not a pleasant situation.

"Yes Taichi, what is it?" it was the fifth time that the boy had found a problem with the training for the day. Although Taichi disrupted the practice so many times, he did have a few followers. Many of the boys on the team thought that Tai was not a good coach, mainly because he was in a wheelchair. This belief had only been present in past teams for the first few games before it had disappeared, mainly because the teams in the past had started winning. The present team was not winning and therefore they were blaming the coach instead of looking to the players to see what was wrong.

"I still don't get this drill. Can you show it to me one more time?" he asked cheekily. It was a difficult drill for Tai to demonstrate, but it was easy for the team to do. 'Taichi's gang,' as Tai called them, gathered around to watch. Only two of the members of the team were not in this 'gang' and they respected their coach. They had been on the team for two years now, whilst most of the others were new.

"Okay, it goes like this," he demonstrated it again, but the ball slipped out of his grip. 'Taichi's gang' laughed, but they had to stop laughing when Tai expertly managed to get the ball back. Then it was James and Toms' turn to laugh. They were the two boys that respected Tai's courage at coaching the team.

"Good one Coach… you handled that just the way Taichi does, except that he never gets the ball back," James said cheekily, going out of his way to annoy Taichi.

"Shut up James. You can't even dribble the ball properly," Taichi shot back. James just laughed in reply.

"Taichi, if you ask a question you should pay attention to the answer," Tai told him calmly, ignoring the dirty look he was being given. He demonstrated the drill again, this time getting it perfect. The rest of the practice was uneventful as there had only been ten minutes left. As the boys were leaving though, something happened that Tai wished that he could have avoided. As Taichi was leaving, his father and sister came to meet him. Tai had only been checking to make sure that all of the students were leaving, but Taichi's father caught his eye. It was a man in his mid-forties with curly brown hair. The man started walking towards him, bringing his blond haired daughter and Taichi with him. As the man came closer, Tai's blood ran cold. He had seen the driver of the car that had been involved in the accident, and he had looked exactly like this man, right down to the cold-looking blue eyes.

"Good afternoon, I see that you are the coach of my son's soccer team. My name is Gary, Taichi's father," he reached out a hand and Tai took it a little unwillingly. The anger that he had kept inside for so long, the anger he did not know that he had inside, was starting to rise to the surface.

"My name is Tai, and yes, I am the coach."

"My son has been telling me that the team has been losing a lot lately," Gary stated, sounding as though he was interested in the soccer.

"Yes, we have unfortunately been losing. The past few teams I've coached won their tournaments, but this year there is tougher competition," Tai explained politely, knowing where Gary was trying to lead the conversation. The girl with him was staring at Tai suspiciously, her blond hair falling around her eyes.

"Taichi has told me that you are a bad coach… I just wanted to see if that's true," Gary certainly did not beat around the bush. He was straight to the point. Tai's anger rose again, but he struggled to keep calm, "I mean, maybe you would be better coaching a team where all of the players are in wheelchairs."

"Excuse me but my past four teams have won the school's tournament. And maybe you should tell your son that I might have been a better coach if his father hadn't put me in a wheelchair," and with that he turned around and wheeled off, leaving a stunned Gary standing there.

As soon as he arrived home he went straight to his room, without even realizing that Kari was there for a visit. Kari, who had come out to greet him, was extremely surprised. Normally Tai would at least call out that he was home. The fact that he was silent screamed out to her that something was wrong.

"Is there something wrong with Tai?" she whispered to her mother as she returned to the kitchen, "Because he didn't even say 'hi' to me just then." Mari frowned. She was becoming quite old, but she was happy that Tai still lived there because she knew that he could easily get lonely and bored without people around him.

"He was fine when he left to go coach," she replied, "Maybe you should go talk to him and find out what's wrong." Kari left the kitchen immediately and knocked on her brother's door.

"Hi Tai it's Kari. Can I come in?"

"Umm… I'll be out in a few minutes Kari," was the reply. She did not know what it was, but there was something different about Tai's voice. It almost sounded as if he were… crying.

"Are you sure that you're okay Tai?" she heard a small THUMP and she heard Tai swear under his breath at something before he managed to answer.

"Yes, for the millionth time I'm perfectly fine!" her eyes widened in shock. Her brother had actually sounded angry, pissed off, annoyed, whatever she wanted o call it. He had been mildly annoyed in the past six years, but he had never been this angry. There was also an undertone in his voice that suggested that he was crying. Whatever had happened, it had been serious. She tried the door but it was locked. Tai and his parents had decided that he should have a lock on his door. He was, after all, twenty-five years old and he needed his privacy. At the time Kari had agreed, but now she cursed the lock.

"Hey Mum…" she was about to ask her mother for a spare key to Tai's room when there was a knock on the front door of their apartment.

"I'll go and get that. You can just concentrate on finding out what's wrong with Tai," Mari rushed off to the door before Kari could finish her sentence. She sighed to herself and cursed the visitor who had interrupted the conversation.

"Tai please? Can I come in?" silence greeted her. She couldn't hear a sound from the room. She was about to knock again when she heard her mother's voice getting louder and louder.

"Go away! Just leave my family alone! Don't you think that you have done enough, caused enough trouble already? Just leave NOW!" the front door slammed shut and Kari cringed as she heard her mother stomp up the hallway.

"Who was it Mum?" she whispered, seeing that her mother was upset and couldn't handle loud voices.

"Come with me Kari," she followed her mother, a little confused as to where this was going.

"Who was it Mum?" she pressured, knowing that it was important.

"It was the guy who was in the accident. Apparently his boy plays on Tai's soccer team at the high school. He went to pick his son up from soccer and his son was complaining about the coach, so he went and talked to Tai. Then Tai said something and then just left. They came here to find out if Tai was okay and he wanted to apologise," Mari hissed, her eyes burning with a rage that seemed to be unquenchable, "The nerve of that man! He has done enough to our family without coming over here… If you weren't here, and Tai, I probably would have hit him!"

"Calm down Mum, he didn't do anything whilst he was here. Now we just have to figure out a way to get Tai out of his room."

"That's easier said than done," Mari commented and together they began to draw up ideas on how to coax the twenty-five year old out of his room…

He was breaking his promise… well, almost. He was so angry that he had wanted to punch the lights out of Gary, but at the same time he just felt like crying forever. That was the guy that had killed Sora. Her life had just been snuffed out like a candle because that guy had decided to drink and then drive. He was in a wheelchair because that guy had done something stupid. It was no accident, it was a crime. Sora would never breathe, laugh, play soccer or smile ever again because of that guy. It had never seemed so real to Tai as now, when he sat in his room. He took a small piece of paper out from a box at the top of the cupboard. As he was getting it out, another small box fell from the shelf to the floor. Kari knocked on the door, asking how he was, but he could only snap at her. He unfolded the piece of paper and read its contents, cursing the tears that were falling at the same time. He didn't want to cry and yet he could not stop himself. The paper had his proposal speech written on it. He had spent _hours_ working on the speech. Sora had loved it, but she had not really had a chance to cherish it because of that guy… he picked up the small box that had fallen on the floor to distract himself from his thoughts. He opened the box, curious as to what it was.

"Tai, are you okay?" it was his mother this time that had asked the question and he knew that they were only worried about him, but he could not stop himself from snapping at her.

"As I've told you a _billion_ times I'm _fine!_" he had found out what was in the box. It was a series of newspaper clippings he had collected about the crash. He had not really read them, but he had collected them in case he had wanted to do so later on. They all had titles like 'Horror Crash Takes Young Woman's Life' and 'Drinking and Driving Ends in Tragedy.' He suddenly had a desire to read the articles. He flipped through them all, reading one after the other, ignoring the pleas of his mother and sister to open the door. It was almost as if this crying rage he was going through was making him crazy for information. One line in particular caught his eye it read:

_There is one thing that __Gary__ says he would like to say to the two young adults involved in the accident. Apparently they were lyrics to a part of the song that was playing at the time of the accident. They are_

_ "I'm sorry that I hurt you_

_It's something I must live with everyday_

_And all the pain I put you through_

_I wish that I could take it all away…" __Gary__ says that he hopes that the survivor of the accident reads these words and accepts them…_

He blinked as he read those words, the tears still falling. He picked up the box of the newspaper clippings and threw them at the nearest wall, watching with tearful eyes as the papers fell out all over the floor. He had read them all anyway. He ran his fingers through his thick hair in desperation. All of the years that he had kept his emotions inside had made it impossible for him to stop the flood of anger and tears. He suddenly realised why all of his friends and family had been worried about him. They had known that if something happened to force him to crack then he would not be able to be calm again for a long time.

"Tai are you throwing things in there?"

"Kari, go away! Please…" he thought that he had broken down before, but he was wrong. If he hadn't been sitting down then he would have collapsed to the ground, but as he was in his wheelchair he could only slump down further. He buried his face in his hands and cried like he had never cried before. As he did though, he heard a key turn in the lock on his door.

"Tai, it's alright," Kari was instantly by her brother's side. She had never seen him cry like this in her entire life and it was scary. Mari wasn't too far behind her daughter and they spent the afternoon trying to comfort him. When he had finally calmed down enough to make sense, they began to talk.

"I-I didn't want to ever see that guy… I would have been fine but he was telling me that maybe I'd be better off coaching a team that consisted of paraplegics and he was accusing me of being a bad coach because his son wasn't a good soccer player! I couldn't just stay around… I would have killed him if I had had the chance. I just felt so angry that I… I came back here and… I just don't know," Kari and Mari kept on reassuring him, and finally it came to the point where he could not cry anymore. He had run out of tears.

"He had no right to do that… especially to tell you that you were a bad coach. You've helped the team win for four years for God's sake! He had no right to even come up to you. He should have orders never to see you again as far as I'm concerned," Mari paced around the room angrily, getting a little overprotective.

"No Mum, I want to talk to him again," that stopped both Mari and Kari in their tracks.

"You what? You have to be kidding!" Kari exclaimed. She didn't know how he could want to see the guy that had damaged his life so much.

"I don't want to hurt him, I just want to talk," the two women looked at one another.

"We'll arrange it for you," was all that they would say.

"I appreciate that you arranged this meeting, but it's going to be very short and you didn't have to come with me," Tai told his sister and her husband as they made their way through the park. They were meeting Gary at the soccer pitch where the high school team usually practiced.

"We had to come for support. We couldn't just leave you alone you know," T.K argued. He wanted to be at the meeting so that Tai wouldn't have a collapse like the one that Kari had told him about, "You're lucky that we talked Matt and Joe out of coming along. Otherwise you'd never get a chance to talk to this Gary dude." They arrived at the pitch where Gary was already waiting. As soon as he saw Tai, Gary jumped up and came over to them, looking a little edgy.

"Good afternoon," he said his voice a little higher than it normally was.

"Okay, let's get one thing straight. I'm not here to exchange pleasantries. I am here to talk to you so that you can get your apologies out of the way and so I can try and get on with my life without you popping up unexpectedly somewhere," Tai's voice was almost as cold as ice and it froze the blood in Gary's veins.

"I understand. I just want to tell you that I'm very sorry and that it was an accide-

"It was not an accident. You had drunk too much alcohol and then you chose to drive. You crashed into us when you were under the influence and therefore it was no accident because you knew what your actions could bring."

"You're right. I-I just want to ask you one thing and then I'll never bother you again," Gary was a little hesitant, but Tai just raised an eyebrow as if to ask him what he was waiting for.

"Could you please hurry up, my brother and I have elsewhere that we would like to be," Kari butted in, seeing that Gary was not going to talk for a long time.

"Uh… of course, I'm sorry. W-What was she like? The girl that died?" Tai sighed. He had known that this question was going to be asked.

"Sora was Sora. I met her when I was four when she helped me defeat a few bullies in a game of soccer. Ever since then she had been my best friend and in a way, she still is. She was a friend to everyone that knew her and she was just the perfect person. She was my girlfriend for just over three years and we had just gotten engaged on the day that she died. She was a good student and she had wanted to be a teacher when she finished University. She was a good person and even though you are sorry, I don't know if I can ever fully forgive you. There, you have your answer and now I never really want to hear from you again. Oh, and tell Taichi that he is off the soccer team because he keeps on disrupting both practice and the games. But I think that he would make a better basketball player than soccer. Tell him that he should try out for that instead," and with that he turned around and left the park with T.K and Kari, feeling a lot better now that he had gotten all of the stress and anger out…

To be continued…

End of Tai's Story

Litanya: There is the end of Tai's story. If you are confused I am sorry. It will all become clear in the next chapter. And sorry for the late update… I've had a lot of things on lately and I've been showing my German exchange student around Victoria and yeah… The next chapter of this and 'An Old Box' will be out when I can get them out… which may be a long time. I wrote most of this chapter when Anke was at another exchange's house. Anyway, I'll see you next time!


	4. Their Story

Litanya: I am sorry that it has taken me so long to write this but I have not had any time. I do not own Digimon, but I do own this plot.

**_The Reason_**

****

**_Their Reason_**

Sora opened her eyes with only a little trouble. From the way that the light was in the room she had been able to tell that it was early in the morning. By opening her eyes she was surprised at what she saw. She was not in her bedroom and neither was she in Kari's spare bedroom. Instead the room she was in was a plain white colour and the window, which was usually on her right, was on her left. She was facing her left and so she could see straight through the window. The Sun was rising and the red and orange of the sky was making a beautiful pattern across the sky. She pulled herself from the window and examined the room. Directly to her left a chair had been placed. There was a slight shape in the chair, as though someone had only just left it. She turned her head so that she was facing her right side and gasped softly to herself. A small machine was attached to her arm, but she ignored that. On a chair on her right, a sixteen year old Kari was sitting. She was watching the person in a bed on the other side. Sora could just see a tuft of brown hair sticking up over the top of a bigger machine behind the one attached to Sora's arm. Kari must have heard the small noise that she made because she instantly turned her head.

"Sora, you're awake!" Kari rushed over to the bed and gave her a soft hug; looking as though it was the first time she had had something to be happy about.

"What… What's going on?" she was so confused. A few minutes ago she had left a twenty-two year old Kari after having a coffee and now she was back in a hospital when Kari was sixteen. Either she was having a _really_ strange dream or she had just woken up from one.

"You and Tai were involved in an accident on the coast. You were coming back from… somewhere and a drunk driver smashed into you guys. The pair of you have been in a coma since then. I'm just glad that you're awake; I was starting to get worried. It's been three days since the accident and Tai hasn't even stirred and… your mother is going to be so happy!" Kari was talking so fast that Sora couldn't keep up with her. It seemed that the young girl was so relieved that one of them was alive and awake that she could not stop talking. Sora let her talk for a while before interrupting.

"Is Tai alright? You said that he hasn't moved since the accident," she was worried. She knew that the car had crashed right into his side and she knew that it had been a bad crash. The chances that he was perfectly fine were very slim.

"Apart from the coma he is in the impact of the crash shattered the bone in his right leg. Apart from that the doctors think that he is perfectly fine. It's a miracle that neither of you were hurt too badly… excluding the comas of course," Sora absorbed the information quietly, thanking God that her 'other life' had only been a dream. She did not want to think of a life without Tai, although her 'dream life' had shown her that it was possible.

"So all we have to do is wait for him to wake up and then he'll be perfectly fine?"

"We hope so," Sora did not like that answer, but she certainly did not want Kari to explain what she meant by that. Instead her eyes flittered to the door. A tall shadow had fallen across it and she somehow knew that her mother was about to enter the room.

"S-Sora?" Rika Takenouchi had entered the room, as her daughter had predicted.

"Hi Mum," Rika then entered the room at almost a run. She was so happy that her daughter was awake. She had been scared that the reason that Sora had had so little injuries was because she was going to die in her coma. That had been Rika's main worry. Now that Sora was awake the fear had disappeared. The happy moment was ruined when the machine that Tai was hooked up to started to make a loud beeping noise. To the three people in the room it was the worst noise that they had ever heard. A couple of nurses, both young, rushed into the room and started to check the machine. The older of the two pulled the curtain across the halfway mark of the room as she realised that there were others in the room. Jim Kido, Joe's older brother, quickly raced to check on Tai, only giving Sora and the others a quick glance as he went through.

"What's happening? What does it mean when the machine starts beeping?" Sora had watched a lot of soap operas which were about hospitals and she knew that the beeping was bad, but she tried to block it out at that moment. She did not want to know if something terrible had happened to Tai.

"He'll be fine… I hope. The machine that you were connected to was beeping a lot when you first came here, but Tai's was silent. Maybe now it is making up for before. Tai will be fine, I know he will. He's strong and his courage won't let him leave here," Kari said stubbornly trying to make herself believe her own words. Rika just squeezed Sora's hand, knowing that she needed to stay calm. The beeping behind the curtain stopped a few minutes later and Jim pulled the curtain back so they could see again.

"Just a minor hiccup there," Jim told them, smiling a little. He turned to Kari, "Didn't I tell you to come and get me if either of them awoke?" Kari's face turned a little pink.

"I know, I know but… I was just so excited about Sora being back that I forgot," she stopped as she realised that Jim had only been kidding with her.

"It's okay Kari, really. I'll give Joe a call and tell him that Sora's awake. That should get him and the others to relax a bit more. I know that they have all been extremely worried about all of this. But don't worry; I have a feeling that Tai will be up and about soon and then you'll all feel like nothing happened," he was checking over Sora as he told them this, checking her eyes and her pulse as well as a bump on the back of her head that she had not even known she had.

"Yeah, I can imagine that they are worried," Rika put in. She knew how close the digidestined were and she found the little family that they had very interesting. She just hoped that it would all stay together. Kari, Rika and Sora talked and talked for about two hours, before Rika had to leave to open up the flower shop. Sora had been right when she had thought that it was early in the morning. Once Rika had left Kari swapped her seat so that she was on Sora's left.

"So Sora, what's the deal with the ring?" Sora could not believe that they had not mentioned it before. It was almost as if her mother had been too worried and then too happy to notice and Kari had had her mind on her brother. Now that the two young girls were by themselves, Kari had noticed the minor detail.

"What do you think is the deal with the ring?"

"Are you saying that you and Tai are engaged?" Kari was hoping against hope that Tai would get through this alive so that he and Sora could have their dream wedding. She had won the bet about when her brother would propose. She had guessed that he would perform the deed in the next three months, therefore making her the winner. The others had all guessed after that.

"Yes, I guess that I am. Do you have a problem with that?" Sora joked, feeling a lot better, although strangely tired. It seemed that her body was not used to being awake.

"Oh no, I've been waiting for this day for ages now. I wish that you could have told me under different circumstances though. So, how did he propose to you?" it was a question that every girl secretly dreamt of being asked. The most important question that they had to be asked, of course, was the 'will you marry me?' question. Sora described it to the younger girl, who was pretty amazed at her brother's behavior.

"…And then yeah… we were engaged," Sora finished up, almost laughing at the sight of Kari's jaw on the ground, "Are you a little shocked there Kari?"

"I'm just amazed that _Tai_ of all people thought that up by himself. I mean, to a lot of girls that would be their dream proposal. Hell, if I ever get proposed to I hope that the guy does something like that," Kari found the whole thing so romantic. Everything except for the accident that had happened afterwards of course.

"I'll be sure to tell that to T.K then," Kari threatened Sora with a pillow, but that did not stop the auburn haired girl from laughing. After that they just talked quietly for a few more minutes until Sora fell asleep again. After all, being awake for about four hours after being in a coma for three days was pretty tiring. Well, for Sora it was anyway.

Tai groggily opened his eyes, wondering what someone was laughing at. When his eyes were actually open it took him a few minutes to register what was happening. He could hear two low female voices coming from his left and he thought that he recognized one of them as Kari's and one as Sora's.

_'No, that cannot be possible. Sora's dead, remember?'_ but at the same time he was thinking this, his right leg began to hurt a lot. The pain was almost killing him. He closed his eyes again and tried to focus on what was happening. First of all Sora was supposed to be dead and he was supposed to be paralyzed. Secondly, the walls of his bedroom were a light yellow, not the bright white that they had been painted in the room he was in. And thirdly, the Kari that he had seen out of the corner of his eye should have been twenty-two and not sixteen. He had not been able to see the person that was lying in the bed as a black machine was blocking the way.

"Alright, I'll let you sleep now Sora. I'll let you know if anything happens," Tai heard and he opened his eyes slightly to see that Kari was moving around from the other side of Sora's bed until she was in between his bed and Sora's. He closed his eyes fully again, not really wanting to say anything. He felt as though his throat would tighten too much if he spoke. He was confused as to what was happening and it had made him nervous. What if he made a complete and utter fool of himself? It was true that he had done so many times before, but it had never been over something as weird as this. He waited for about ten minutes before his arm began to ache from being immobile, though he did not know how long he had been lying like that. He opened his eyes and saw that Kari was sitting on his left, flipping through a magazine. He began to move his arm as slowly as he possibly could; not wanting to make any sound that would draw her attention. He watched her closely for a reaction, but he jumped out of his skin when he heard a voice from his right.

"Tai, I see that you are awake now," it was Joe, standing in the doorway. His brother had called him hours before to tell him that Sora was awake, but he had not expected Tai to be conscious too. Kari looked up from her magazine, noticed Tai was awake and threw her arms around her brother.

"Tai, you never told me that you were awake! Why didn't you say anything?" it took quite a while for the girl to calm down. In a way Tai was amused, but more than he ever had been before, he was confused. How could he go from being twenty-five years old to being nineteen again in about two minutes? He did not understand.

"Uh-I…am a little confused. I didn't know what was going on, so I decided to keep quiet until I remembered. I- What is going on anyway? I don't really understand anything that I am seeing to tell you the truth," Joe and Kari exchanged glances. They knew that people who awoke from comas were often confused, but they had not expected this reaction from Tai. It was as though he was used to a place where things were completely different.

"You don't remember the accident?" Joe sounded very surprised. He had heard of countless stories of patients awaking from comas and they had always remembered what had happened to put them into the coma. Or at least they had remembered the accidents.

"Yeah, I remember the accident… that red car… but I don't remember what happened after that."

"Nothing happened after that. You went into a coma and when you woke up just now, your coma ended. Sora woke from her coma just a few hours ago too. What is the 'after' that you cannot remember?" Kari was curious. It was as though Tai had been talking about a life after the accident, which could have only occurred during his coma.

"It was nothing. It must just have been a dream thing that happened in the coma. All I know is that it was all very confusing," he winced as a wave of pain charged up his leg. Even though it had been hurting him a lot before, the pain had gotten a lot worse as he had began to wake up.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, it's just my leg. Is Sora okay?" Now that they had stopped asking him questions he could finally enquire about his fiancée.

"She's fine. I should go and get Jim to tell him that you're awake otherwise he will kill me. He might be able to help you about your leg. Keep him company Joe," Kari ordered and she disappeared out of the room. As well as telling Jim about her brother, she also had to call her parents. After all, they had the right to know when their son was awake.

Back in the room Tai was trying to get all of the information about what had happened after the accident.

"So the driver of the other car died? That's terrible!" he exclaimed, realizing that he felt sorry for the family of the man. Joe did not have the same amount of pity.

"But he was the one that crashed into you guys. He was completely drunk. Because of him we almost lost you guys!" Joe was not one to be brought about easily. Once he believed something, he believed it for a long time.

"What was his name?" he said this quickly, the memories of his 'dream' in his coma coming back to him.

"Gary something I think. Why does it matter?" Tai thought for a moment before he replied.

"I don't know… I guess that I just knew it. He doesn't happen to have a son and a daughter does he?" Joe was amazed at how Tai could know so much about a person that he had never even met.

"Yes, a daughter called Lizzie and a son named Taichi. How do you know all of this?"

"I'm starting to form an explanation but it may sound a little crazy," he then yawned, suddenly realizing how tired he actually was, "I'll tell you about it later. For know I just want to sleep." Joe nodded, understanding the medical reasons behind Tai's tiredness.

"Okay, you just get some sleep. I'll come around again in a few hours and see you," but Tai was already asleep, in his dreams trying to puzzle out how he knew exactly what he knew…

To be continued…

Litanya: As I said before, sorry for the late update. The final chapter should be up in about two weeks. Please review and I'll see you all later! Bye!


	5. The Final Story

Litanya: Firstly I want to give a HUGE thank you to absolutely everyone who has reviewed so far: KaguyaEvenstar, Marie Darkholme, Fruitloop Trooper, Kanashii Neko, DarkMetalAngel of Destruction, Agumon 2004, Lemony Snickerz, Trevor the Enchanter, painin uranus, XxNinja-SongstressxX, kagome-1990, Little Golden Snitch and anime26angel. Thank you all so much! And a special thanks goes to my friend Steph who yells at me when I don't update on time! Thank you for doing that Steph!

I do not own Digimon or the song 'The Reason' etc.

**_The Reason_**

****

**_The Final Story_**

When Tai awoke again he found that Kari was back and Joe had disappeared off somewhere. He also found, with great pleasure, that Sora was awake. He still could not see her because of the machine to his left, but he could hear her voice as she spoke to Kari. His sister was sitting in between the two beds, obviously knowing that both of them were going to be awake at the same time.

"Hey Tai, you're awake again!" Kari exclaimed as soon as he opened his eyes. He did not know how she had been able to pre-empt his movements, but it did not matter much.

"Tai?" Sora asked, sounding extremely happy. Tai's heart soared at the sound. Even though she was obviously alive, he was thanking his lucky stars that she was. His life in his 'dream' had been so terrible. It had been a life without Sora. By knowing what it felt like to have lost her, he was determined to make sure that it never happened again. He would have sat up so that he could see over the machine but his side was aching too much.

"I'm here Sora," there did not seem to be anything more that he had to say at that point in time. Sora felt so relieved when he had told her that he was there. She had thought that she had lost him and it was the worst feeling that she had ever had to deal with. Tai was her life and without him she had felt empty, as though her life did not really have a meaning.

"I know," she replied, feeling as though that one sentence of his had filled her life with a purpose, and that purpose was to make sure she never lost him again. She slowly sat up, feeling fine. She did not have anything really wrong with her other than the slight concussion that she had had before she had gone into a coma. From her seated position she could see Tai. He was lying pretty still, but he was looking her way. His right leg looked pretty bashed up as it was wrapped up in layers and layers of bandages. His right arm was in a cast and from the looks of his injuries he had probably sustained them all from when the car collided into his right hand side. As she was in a seated position she was taller than the machine on her right. He could see her face from where he was, and he grinned. Even though he had gone through a lot of emotional pain in his coma, it was only a memory now. Seeing Sora had erased all of it. There was a content silence in the room as both of them realised how close they had come to losing something extremely important…

A few weeks later they were both out of hospital and their lives were slowly getting back to normal once again. Sora had been almost completely back to normal, getting out of hospital three days after waking up from her coma. Tai took a bit longer, the injuries he had sustained from his side being the main reason he had to stay. Once they were both finally out of hospital though, they were plagued with work from their respective Uni classes and spending time with their families. In fact the only time that they really had to spend with their friends in the first week out of hospital was late on a Sunday afternoon. They met at the park, where they usually held all of their meetings. It was an easy spot where they could all get to.

"Ah, so our almost-dead-friends are back… just when we were starting to notice that you were gone," Matt joked badly as Sora and Tai finally arrived at the meeting.

"Ha ha Matt, very funny," Tai replied a little dryly, getting sick of the same type of joke. He had been hearing things like that from everyone since he had gotten out of hospital. They settled down and talked about the odd thing or two that had happened in the 'real' world whilst Tai and Sora were in their comas, as well as giving updates on the Digital World. By that stage Izzy's patience had run out. He wanted answers.

"So guys, what happens when you're in a coma?" he had been dying to ask that question ever since he had heard that they had woken up. He wanted to see if he could find a parallel from the 'real' world to the world of the coma. Tai and Sora looked at each other and shrugged.

"I have a feeling that although we were both in a coma the things that happened were different but similar," Tai struggled to explain it. He knew what he meant, but the problem was that the others didn't.

"What Tai is meaning to say is that in a coma you go into a world of… "What could have happened." You end up going through a part of a life that is not real, but what could have been. Do you know what I mean?" there was a short pause and then Izzy nodded a little thoughtfully.

"I think I get it… but what happened in your 'other life?'"

"Well… I think that that is where there is a major difference, but the storyline would probably be similar," Tai explained, struggling to find the correct words, "In my 'other life'… it wasn't very nice. It was a world in which Sora died in the accident. I was a paraplegic and I ended up being a soccer coach for the high school team. On the last year that I could se my 'other life' I was the coach of a boy named Taichi. Unlike me though, he was really bad at soccer and he kept on blaming it on me. It turned out that he was Gary's son and yeah… the rest wasn't all that interesting." He did not really want them to know about his emotional state afterwards. It was embarrassing the way he had fallen apart, but he realised that it had been a good thing. He had just waited too long to do so.

"So your entire 'other life' extended from where the accident left off, but Sora was dead and Gary wasn't?" Joe too was fascinated in the subject. He had seen countless patients wake from comas, very confused, as if they had grown up to be older than what they were. To hear the actual story of someone's 'other life' fascinated him.

"Yeah, I guess you can say that," Tai shrugged, wincing a little as he forgot about his sore shoulder. Sora shot him a concerned glance, but he smiled to reassure her. Kari observed this and thought that they were the cutest couple. They did things for each other without even noticing that they were doing it. It was the cutest thing she had ever seen.

"My 'other life' was pretty much like that, except that I wasn't injured really and I ended up as a teacher. I happened to teach a girl called Lizzie who happened to be Gary's daughter in the end," she too did not want them to know about her emotional turmoil. She thought that it was enough that she had had to go through it and she also thought that they would gather that she had been sad in her 'other life.'

"What happened before you woke up?" T.K was scribbling some things down in a small notebook. Both Tai and Sora grinned inwardly as they remembered that T.K had been a writer in their 'other lives.' It seemed that some things were universal.

"I just spoke to Gary and then… I woke up."

"Yeah, that happened to me too. I think I actually fell out of my wheelchair just before I woke up, but I can never be sure."

"So you spoke to Gary and then you woke up… that doesn't sound very interesting," T.K grumbled a little, "It makes it seem like a coma has no purpose."

"But that's where you're wrong T.K. I don't really know how, but we managed to have the same sort of storyline to our 'other lives' and we also managed to pick a few things up from this world. How were we supposed to know before the accident that Gary had a daughter and a son, as well as their names? We couldn't have known and yet we managed to incorporate them into our 'other lives.' We didn't know that T.K was wanting to be a writer, but it seems like he does now and he did there. But the ending _did_ have a point…"

"…it was just that we didn't tell you the whole story. We lived through approximately six years there and in all of those years we did not see Gary at all… until near the end. That was when we… we didn't exactly _yell_ at him, but we were not very polite either. But it taught us that an accident is never an accident if someone is behaving recklessly. But the main thing about it was that you are never 'over' something until you have confronted it. Once we confronted the main problem, we got over it and then woke up. It was very simple and yet complicated at the same time," Mimi was amazed at how Sora had smoothly taken over from Tai. They had obviously spoken about it before. Mimi was close to Joe, but she had never been able to finish off his sentences. Then again, Sora and Tai had always been especially close.

"I see. So the whole point of a coma is to teach you something deep and meaningful?" Matt sounded a little skeptical of the whole idea. One could see him promising himself never to fall into a coma.

"I suppose you could say that. But it's also about healing the body, right Joe?"

"Yeah, that's right. I would go into a long explanation but… you know what it is about," Joe pushed his glasses back up his nose, for once not willing to bore them.

"So that's all there is to a coma?" Kari sounded a little disappointed.

"Yeah, that's all there is to it. But I'm just bloody glad that it is over," Tai agreed, pulling Sora a little closer as if afraid to lose her. But he did not have to worry because she was never planning on losing him either.

The End

Litanya: I know that was pretty bad but… I ran out of ideas. There may be a sequel in about a few months if I can be bothered, but I have other fics. If a lot of people ask for one, then I'll do it. Until then or my next fic, have a good time! See you!


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